Thirty years ago, the breakup of Yugoslavia led to a brutal and destructive war across the region. While Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Croatia, fought for independence, the nominal Yugoslav federation, dominated by Serbia, sought to retain control.

Serbia itself as a nominally eastern orthodox nation has also traditionally had good relations with Russia, again something likely to be scrutinized on the road towards joining the EU.

Now, Serbia aims by 2027 to have completed all reforms needed as a prerequisite for EU membership.

Minister Duric said Serbia has not only things to gain from the EU but also much to offer.

Over the past decade, the country has doubled its GDP, Duric noted, speaking to ERR while on an official visit to Tallinn.

Duric said: "Being a country that has in the past couple of years achieved significant economic results means that having a strong military is a deterrent to any potential security infringements; helps our status as a good investment destination, so we expect until the end of this year that Serbia will get officially the investment grade from major rating houses and catering for our security is one important part of it."

Serbia has shown itself to be a staunch supporter of Ukraine and has welcomed numerous Ukrainian refugees, the minister added.

Conversely, Ukraine, which is fighting for its territorial sovereignty, also understands Serbia's firm stance on its own territorial sovereignty, he added.

Not only Ukraine, but Russia, too, understands this, and hence why relations with Russia have been and are important to Serbia.

The country's historical experience with Russia is entirely different from some other countries, Duric went on – in fact it is, at the diametric opposite of end of the spectrum from Estonia's experience, he said.

"We never shared a border with Russia, we never came under similar historic circumstances and Russia also supports Serbia's position when it comes to Kosovan autonomy, and it does so also in the UN security council, which is very important for Serbia's negotiating position," he said.

"We are ready to fully align with all European foreign and security policies, once we are invited to become a full member state of the EU," Duric continued.

Of the constituent states of the former Yugoslavia, two - Slovenia and Croatia - are EU members, while all the remainder are either candidate or potential candidate members.

Despite the bitter and destructive wars that ravaged the region in the 1990s, the other former Yugoslav states will not block Serbia's application to join the EU, Duric added.

Slovenia is one of the main investors in the country, while with the passing of time, the traumatic war memories have largely been overcome, leading to improved relations, most notably with Croatia.

However, this is not always plain sailing, Duric noted candidly.

"I must tell you honestly that this is not politically popular in I must tell you very frankly that this is not something that is politically very popular either in Croatia or in Serbia for that matter, but we believe that pursuing better relations is the right thing to do."

This history also tends to come to mind when hearing about Serbia's plan to reinstate mandatory military service. However, according to Minister Duric, the reason for this move is not Serbia's ambition to reassert its dominance in the Balkans.

The minister said he hopes that the issue of Kosovo will not hinder Serbia's EU membership, given several EU countries also do not recognize Kosovo's independence.

Serbia continues to regard Kosovo as an integral part of the country, and refuses to recognize it as an independent state.

Duric said: "One hundred and eleven countries at least do not recognize [Kosovo] including five EU and NATO members, who do not recognize Kosovo's independence. Today, Serbia is seeking a compromise solution. One solution that would take into account the interests of both major ethnic communities: Kosovar Albanians and Kosovar Serbs. And we are primarily interested in advancing the current level of collective political, economic and human rights with our community."

"The EU has helped to facilitate a dialogue on the normalization of relations, which has unfortunately I must say very frankly in the past two years backslided."

Getting this back on track may be a task for the presumed next High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Estonia's Kaja Kallas, Duric continued.

"We hope that Kaja Kallas as the new EU commissioner for foreign security policy will have the opportunity to keep helping in finding the smallest common denominator and the best solution for this situation."

Six independent countries arose in the wake of the Yugoslav war, namely Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and North Macedonia. While this breakup was accompanied by war, a war which saw the UN's UNPROFOR peacekeeping force deployed in the early 1990s, at the end of that decade, it was NATO that bombed Serbia during the war between that country and Kosovar Albanian separatist forces.

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